Friday, February 28, 2014

1) Yesterday was Kyle's 40th birthday. Yes, he's nearly 8 months younger than I am, but who's counting? We celebrated with ribs, Portillo's Chocolate Cake, and an iPad Mini as my gift to him. Welcome to the world of Apple, my darling!

2) Tomorrow is the day we celebrate Will's 2nd birthday. My Leap Day baby will NOT be deprived of a birthday celebration just because he doesn't have an "official" day on which to celebrate 3/4ths of the time. In fact, my second gift to Kyle is honoring his request to take the entire family to Wisconsin Dells for Will's birthday!

3) Have you ever been to the Dells? It's like Vegas, but for families. Just once in your life you should go. We are staying at a resort which has a few indoor waterparks, so the older kids can wander off on their own while we wrangle the little ones. Rumor has it that a swim-up bar was installed, so don't feel too badly for us. ;)

4) I really need a new pair of winter boots and now is the season to get a great deal. Any suggestions for comfy, but cute , boots?

5) Have any of you caught the 90s BBC show Ballykissangel? It's on Amazon Prime right now! I'm only just beginning season 2 (after finishing Season 1) and it really like it! It's all about a little Irish town, it's Catholic priest and all the townspeople. Each episode highlights different characters and their stories, using the priest as the common thread weaving them all together. If you get a chance, check it out!

6) Upon the recommendation of some very wonderful women, I recently purchased a copy of 33 Days to Morning Gloryby Fr. Michael E. Gaitley. My wise friends suggested it as a great book for Lenten reading, and I can't wait to get started!

Full disclosure: I read this book last summer, but I refer to it weekly and this week I have turned to it almost as often as I have turned to my Rosary.

The Feeling Good HandbookBy David Burns came highly recommended to me by a mental health care professional last Spring. First, I checked out a copy from the library, but I soon found that it was one of those books. You know, the type of book you know you will want to refer back to many times. The type of book you can see becoming valuable in all sorts of new situations in the future. So, I bought my own copy and it has been so very worth it.

Overall, it's marketed as a self-help book for the average person and uses behavioral awareness and modification as the tools to help the reader improve. The author is a psychologist (he looks grooooooovy, right?) who has a very conversational writing style and uses many real examples as ways of illustrating personality types, flaws, and ways to improve.

On it's own, it's a fascinating read.

When you apply it to your own life, it takes on a whole new meaning. Somehow, Burns gets the reader to really see himself/herself as others do, but in a very gentle, non-judgemental way. He then leads you through all different types of exercises to show where you can improve and change. His very helpful explanations show you exactly how to change without feeling overwhelmed.

He devotes several sections of the book on how to deal with difficult personality types successfully. This was eye-opening, to say the least. Truly, I never realized that there are so many different ways of approaching a difficult person or situation and achieving a tolerable-to-good outcome. Not only do I wish I had this book as a young wife and mother, I wish I had it as a middle-schooler!

This book is laid out in such a way that jumping around from section to section isn't a problem, but I would definitely recommend reading it in it's entirety at some point.

Whether you are female or male, married or single, childless or a parent, this book can help you in all areas of your life. It certainly has helped me!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Today, a certain eldest child who shall remain anonymous hit another car. With my new van. That we bought three weeks ago.

He is alright. No one was injured. My van and the parked car he hit were not so fortunate.

It's a good lesson, right? I don't know. Maybe. Too soon to tell.

My car breaks again the day after Christmas. Keeps dying, burning through oil and shutting off abruptly while driving down the road. No one knows why. Since we purchased it --nearly brand new-- almost 4 years ago, it has cost us more than $3000 in repairs.

The list goes on and on. The stress, too, goes on and on. When my Suburban decided to shut down while Kyle was on his way to pick up Killian, Will and I at the airport (quick trip to FL to see about Killian transferring next year! See? It's not all bad!), we decided we needed to get a new car and fast.

We spent the following day discussing our options for a new family car. While we LOVED our first Suburban, it's replacement had been riddled with issues from Day 1 and we didn't want to go that route. Also, since Will was born 2 years ago, we didn't have enough seats for all 9 of us, so any time we all had to go somewhere together, we drove 2 cars. The very last thing we wanted to do was get "one of those awful church vans" and make all those stereotypes of big families a reality! Gasp!

You see where I'm going with this, right?

We ended up going to look at a 12-passenger van that was only a few months old and had very little miles. You never saw two grumpier people.

I had truly not ever thought of myself as defined by my possessions, but, holy cow.... I did not want to be the lady with all those kids driving the big white van. Kyle didn't want to be married to her, either.

I started to feel dizzy and sad. I ran to the dealership bathroom and began texting friends for moral support. I had to do some real soul-searching, real fast.

Quick prayers. Quick conversation with Kyle. Deep breaths.

We ran all the numbers, negotiated a killer deal on the Suburban's trade-in value (in fact, it was worth more than the newer van!) and found out we would be saving $200 a month on our car payment. That was too much for both of us. The promise of financial relief suddenly made that big old van look very nice.

And it is nice.

Kyle had them install DVD players and a remote start. The kids enjoy all the extra room. The older kids, who are now adult-size, really like that they can sit in any seat and have comfortable leg room. And, we have promised them a fun road trip in the near future.

All of this to say that I needed to take serious stock of who I was and where I was in my life. I never would have done it unless I was really forced into it. It was necessary. I also had to make a choice. One that I make every day, only not so consciously. I had to choose what was best for my family over what I wanted. Normally, that's not a problem. But, when it came in the form of the place I spend a lot of time in and in which "the world" sees me, I balked. Big time.

You NEED to read Pope Awesome!!

I always shop online through Ebates & get cash back every quarter!!

About Me

I am the proud Catholic mother of 7 beautiful children on earth and 3 little saints in Heaven. Their ages range from 3 to 20 years.
My husband and I have been happily married for 21 glorious years.
On a good day, I can hear myself think.
On a bad day, the whole neighborhood can hear me think.